Posts by Doctor Syntax

Another redesign on the cards for iPhone as EU rules call for removable batteries

"We can look forward to software updates being legally required for at least 6 years from launch"

Make that from end of sale. You don't want to buy a long-lived model & then find it obsoleted next year.

And those levels are needed these days.

Re: Just learned to break open our family phones ...

"doesn't look modern"

A plus point in its own right.

Very strange indeed, given that Google use a Linux kernel. You'd almost think they were doing it deliberately.

A small suggestion

When searching for a new phone or laptop include easily replaceable battery in your search terms. Given the average selling site it won't make too much difference to the hits so step two is to weed out the rest and choose one that really does have an easily replaceable battery. I'm pretty sure the search terms will get analysed and, if everyone does it, some marketing departments might catch on and the sales figures would speak for themselves. Every laptop and every phone I've bough has had replaceable batteries. If you want the shiniest examples you might not agree with my choice but then I might not agree with yours.

Re: standardization of removable batteries would be a great follow up

It's not a matter of getting into the pack, it's the lack of interchangeability of packs and of the chargers.

Re: standardization of removable batteries would be a great follow up

Trade buyers have clout. That's why consumer protection legislation is important.

The EU is run by people who thing consumers are more important than the wishes of big companies. As I'm a consumer, not a big company that's why I think the EU is doing the right thing and that that lying twerp and his puppeteers sold the British public down the river.

Re: I'm not sure what problem they are solving

1. The EU is a pretty big market.

2. Non-EU residents are going to get pissed off when they realise other markets have models of phones that don't let Apple screw them when the battery wears out.

Re: standardization of removable batteries would be a great follow up

It's not just a matter of the ancient no-name drill not being made any more. I have several battery-operated gadgets, vacuum cleaner and garden tools from 3 different EU makes, all currently available, all with very similar form factors but not quite interchangeable so not only do I have multiple batteries, I also have 3 chargers cluttering the place up. This is an area where standardisation should have been imposed years ago.

Welcome to the new iBattery. It clips onto the back of the phone, connects to the USB and you can change it as often as you like. The internal battery is soldered in but, hey, we have an exchangeable battery, even if you don't like to use it.

Re: Mining landfill?

That HDD with the Bitcoin wallet isn't as valuable as it once was.

Re: As luck would have it....

There seems to be a whooshing sound round here.

Microsoft rethinks death sentence for Windows Mail and Calendar apps

What you describe goes right back to Netscape and still lives on in Thunderbird and Seamonkey. But this is MS and MS in the C21st is just going to do everything they can to drag you into their servers so I doubt it's going to be their version of Tbird.

I have that on my desktop right now but it's not a web app. It's SeaMonkey mail & news client - multiple email accounts, RSS & Usenet all on one tab, calendar on another although I preferred it when the calendar was a plugin with a separate window.

Re: Think of the users, and not just corporates

I wouldn't know. I haven't used it for nearly 20 years & then it was at a client site.

Re: Think of the users, and not just corporates

Einstein's dictum: everything should be as simple as possible but no simpler.

The problem arises when your nice simple interface suddenly fails you when you want it to do something outside its simple features. The "just reads your mail and sends photos to your relatives" might then not be up to it when you're suddenly trying to organise a family wedding, a house move and a holiday all at the same time. At that point you realise that multiple folders with nesting, proper threading of messages and maybe a search function would actually be easier to use than the nice simple interface.

"One user argued that for security reasons, they didn't want an app like Mail in the cloud. That said, another user noted that web apps are the future of the industry."

The two are far from being mutually exclusive.

Over 100,000 compromised ChatGPT accounts found for sale on dark web

Re: Is this worse that other products?

"the problem, sorry, challenge."

Opportunity.

Oreo cookie maker says crooks gobbled up staff info

"Please know that this incident did not occur on or affect Mondelez systems or networks in any way."

It didn't need to have occurred there. The data had already left the network and been waved goodbye as it went.

Where's my money?! Now USA Today publisher sues Google over online advertising

Obvious solution - roll your own.

Remind advertisers of the way they used to do things. They didn't profile readers, they profiled pages and doing that was a no-brainer: you wanted to advertise, say gardening products, you bought space on the gardening pages.

Remind them as well that the user "targetting" they're spending money on is very often wasted from the advertiser's PoV by repeatedly showing ads to people who already bought that type of product weeks or months ago.

Remind them that Google sells advertising. Nothing else, advertising. It doesn't sell their goods or services except possibly as a by-product. It just sells advertising and it sells it to them, not their customers.

Elon Musk's Twitter moves were 'reaffirming' says Reddit boss amid API changes

Check with your ISP, some of them resell Giganews. My current ISP is one of those. Prior to that I used Individual.net

Is it time for everyone to switch back to Usenet? It's still there.

Re: He needs an icon -->

"not cheap at all"

It is when you don't pay your bills.

Re: He needs an icon -->

You have to make an exception for IBM & its dominions. They just fire people regardless.

Montenegro jails Do Kwon, accused of causing $40 billion LUNA crash

I think "auction" might be the word you're looking for.

Data cleanser did its job, but – oopsie! – also doubled customers' bills

"Everyone's answer seemed to be the same"

For a moment I parsed that as saying it was everyone's job. That made sense because, of course, if it's everyone's job it's noone's job.

Not even Dynamics 365 ERP is safe from Microsoft's Copilot splurge

Re: Oftentimes

It's easier to pronounce than ofttimes so worth keeping around for those occasions when nothing else quite does the job. Not that I've come across any of those occasions myself.

areas such as marketing, customer service...

I see you've reported trouble with your washing machine. Would you like a packet of 25 stainless steel 10mm washers?

Amazon confirms it locked Microsoft engineer out of his Echo gear over false claim

Just a thought but, I assume the Eufy is a cloud-connected device; if so could the connection be intercepted by someone who might change its response?

Re: So does the delivery driver get off with vile lies?

"they will let their lying delivery driver go unpunished"

Do we know if he is still their driver?

Re: Rent

Perpetuity doesn't last very long these days.

Re: no backup strategy, SMH stupidity

"given his UPS capability"

But it was an Amazon driver.

Re: Heavily regulated.

And I think even the ban was temporary.

Re: no backup strategy, SMH stupidity

I wonder if Siri and Alexa's AI have negotiated a data sharing agreement behind Apple & Amazon's backs to cover the bits of conversation they may have missed.

Re: no backup strategy, SMH stupidity

You had a door?

Re: What, no backup strategy?

For 'wasn't really his home' you mean 'was slightly harder to turn the lights on and off' surely?

But how big a step is it to Amazon turning his lights and everything else off and leaving them off unless he has a backup arrangement?

Re: Everyone is missing the point

"Its very dystopian how much power they have to ruin your life."

They have the power you give them. That, if you wish, can be none. Your choice.

Re: Keys not yours

I won't be buying any even if they do drop it.

Re: no backup strategy, SMH stupidity

Luddite!

LockBit suspect's arrest sheds more light on 'trustworthy' gang

Hmmm. It says he "consented" to an interview in Arizona. It doesn't say where he was based only that he's from the Chechen Republic. Did he suddenly find himself in Arizona having intended to be somewhere else? You'd expect him to want to avoid the US or anywhere within extradition treaty range.

Oracle Cerner bleeds jobs as Veterans Affairs project stalls

I wonder how they plan to fix problems with fewer people to do the fixing.

Oh, I forgot. AI: the solution to all problems.

Astroscale wants to be the world's friendly neighborhood space garbage collector

Re: is this correct?

"Try that argument with a copper if you are ever pulled over for lobbing your apple core out of the window."

Years ago Lisburn had brought in legislation about that. The CTO was driving along one day and someone in the car in front did just that. A prosecution was brought unsuccessfully. IIRC the defence was that nobody had been convicted of such an offence. IOW somebody could be convicted but not until someone else had been convicted.

False negative stretched routine software installation into four days of frustration

Re: On the other hand...

All the best bugs lie in wait to ambush you later.

"Wheel have to guess which one..."

And which software product...

Music bosses go after Twitter's unlicensed soundtrack to the tune of $250M

Just send an invoice and we'll process it as normal.

Microsoft remembers it was going to bring Windows 11 to HoloLens

Re: "increased engineering velocity"

I was wondering what the units were, and the direction, given that velocity is a vector.

I suppose Microsoft's engineers are cringing at this; occasionally one has to feel sorry for them.

UK smart meter rollout years late and less than two thirds complete

Re: Boiled down to it's cynical bottom line ...

"privatised utilities are a money grubbing exercise for private investors"

It's entirely possible you might be one of those via any non-state pension you might have.

Keep booking appointments until they catch on. If the bean counters find their spam is costing them real money they'll stop. Eventually.

US government extends software security deadline because vendors aren't ready

Re: Missing the Basics

A slight rewording should improve that by placing the responsibility where it belongs:

"Task PO.2.3 Upper management or authorizing official commit to secure development, and convey that commitment to all with development-related roles and responsibilities."